1 66 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



There has already been inaugurated a system of Esperanto con- 

 sulates throughout the world, with resident consuls, charged with the 

 interests of Esperanto travelers. A "Centra Oficejo" (Central 

 Office) has been established in Paris : an " Adresaro," or published 

 list of the names and addresses of the adherents of Esperanto through- 

 out the world, is issued annually, and a very considerable volume of 

 literature, original and translated, already exists in Esperanto. 

 Finally, two eminently successful congresses have been held: the first 

 in Boulogne-sur-mer in France in 1905, and the second in Geneva, 

 Switzerland, last August. At both of these congresses, hundreds of 

 delegates from twenty-five or more nationalities met, conversed, 

 transacted business in general. Numerous section meetings were held 

 on various topics. Public programs were presented — theatrical, musical 

 and literary — all in Esperanto. The new American Esperanto Journal, 

 in its initial number of January, 1907, publishes an interesting letter 

 from Dr. E. Y. Huntington, assistant professor of mathematics at 

 Harvard, describing his experiences at the Geneva congress, from which 

 extracts are as follows: 



When I arrived at the congress I had only a reading knowledge of the lan- 

 guage; that is to say I had read some five or six hundred pages of Esperanto 

 literature, but had never had an opportunity for speaking the language, or for 

 hearing it spoken. Imagine my surprise and delight at finding that I could 

 understand everything that went on from the very first day, and that within a 

 few days I was able to use the language myself sufficiently well to spend a very 

 profitable day conversing with a French philosopher, with whom I could have 

 had no oral exchange of ideas without the aid of the new language. . . . Espe- 

 ranto was for us both an indispensable means of communication. . . . The congress 

 itself was a continual source of amazement to those of us who had been rather 

 skeptical about the possibilities of an artificial language. The answer to all 

 objections simply is — the language ivorks. . . . The language was used at the con- 

 gress for all the purposes to which a language can be put: general conversation, 

 lively busy meetings, with spirited and eloquent extemporaneous debate, elab- 

 orate theatrical programs and church services. Any stranger dropping in at 

 one of these Esperanto gatherings would certainly have supposed that he was in 

 a foreign land where the people were talking in their own tongue. The experi- 

 mental days are over; the language works. 



The third congress, which will be convened in Cambridge, Eng- 

 land, this month, is already arousing unusual interest. 1 The au- 

 thorities of the University of Cambridge have proffered the use of the 

 university buildings for the sessions of the congress, and the municipal 

 council of the city of Cambridge has tendered the use of the city hall 

 and other municipal buildings for administrative functions. In our 

 own country, the growth of the Esperanto movement is surprising. 

 All of the large cities have become centers of enthusiastic and rapidly 

 growing groups. 2 



1 This article was prepared in January, 1907. 



2 During the writing of these lines, one of our most eminent journals, The 

 North American Review, has allied itself definitely with the Esperanto propa- 

 ganda, lending the inestimable prestige of its great influence to the interests of 



the language in America. 



